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Abstract
Mental health services research and clinical treatment research need to combine their diverse perspectives and experiences in order to ensure effective mental health treatment in real-world settings. The key to the success of treatment and services for children is the family; but the importance of family variables in children's treatment is too often ignored in clinical and services research. Services research generally studies children with a wide variety of disorders and different levels of severity; and clinical treatment researchers are more likely to study specific diagnoses. Practitioners and researchers on both sides must consider the importance of the family to successfully implementing system reform and specific clinical treatments. By understanding and dealing with families' needs and preferences, service systems and practitioners can help families meet their own priorities for their children and family, facilitate correct implementation of vital elements of a treatment or service, and maximize achievement of system goals.